ive played games of sim city like this and they don’t end well

I need some kind of “tax weight” metric - like how much of a contributor/negator is a given property. ie, new homeowner in the north end vs. suburban house that’s been capped for decade and a half

there’s a lot of talk of affordability when it comes to property taxes, but not for things the city does to make day-to-day life more affordable for everyone: transit, libraries, programming & grants.

I’m surprised there’s no weighing in from businesses, as they pay a higher rate and aren’t capped either.

Cuttell is also saying that the average tax bill number is not at all helpful. Because renters in non-capped apartment buildings are getting absolutely fucking ruined. Recent home buys with a freshly reset cap are being dragged over the coals. Capped properties will pay the same taxes as last year.

Morse is up asking how badly council fucked itself by spending it's reserves to keep taxes low

Staff (paraphrased) we're pretty fucked, we need to charge taxes to start saving again, but also pay interest to on the money we borrowed to cover the cost of not having reserves.

Staff are now explaining how some social investments lead to greater overall affordability (eg transit, education and rec funding)

This average is skewed by renters and new home buyers who are paying a shit tonne more than a 10% increase and folks like me who are capped and have been for over a decade will see a much, much, much, much, much lower than 10% increase.

Taxes are expected to go up by ~10% or $276 on average

the whole endeavour seems to have been a garbage pickup event

leaving the house after 5pm feels the same as leaving the house after 10pm used to

my recycling closet is chock full of dead batteries, lightbulbs, and spent camp stove canisters bc of this

it’s kind of a “when you know, you know” thing, at least for myself.

for the record, i don’t believe that all men want is to assault teenagers without suffering consequences for it. i do however believe that if you’re a man who does NOT want that, this would be a GREAT time to get VERY FUCKING LOUD about it

That’s what I was thinking, too. “Flight” is probably a bit of a factor, in that young families started locating in the suburbs instead of on the peninsula, too.

do you also have anything on family size/population age? I am curious how much decline in families on the peninsula is a factor.

honestly I would probably use them more if they were gravel - traffic is slower and they’re more fun on a bike

MAKE ROADS GRAVEL AGAIN